The Elements of Chaos
by NetRaptor
Summary: When Sonic the Hedgehog accidentally warps into Equestria, Twilight and her friends try to send him home. But they discover that the world barrier spells are weakening, and letting through creatures far less desirable than blue hedgehogs-beings that would love to eat the world and everything in it. Sending Sonic home might kill him, as well as destroying both Mobius and Equestria.
1. Chapter 1: The arrival

The Elements of Chaos  
>By K. M. CarrollNetRaptor

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><p>Note: This is a Sonic the Hedgehog crossover with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. MLP in particular about the middle of season 3, before Twilight got her wings.<p>

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><p>The wind tore through the trees of Ponyville, ripping loose clouds of leaves and sending them spiraling through the sky. Ponies ran shrieking and giggling for shelter, and peered out of the safety of doors and windows.<p>

At the outskirts of town a magenta hot air balloon floated fifty feet from the ground. It was tethered with a heavy rope and a steel cable. The cable ran to a ten-foot lightning rod on top of the balloon. In the basket sat a purple unicorn, her indigo mane blown straight out like a flag, and a very nervous young purple dragon.

"What if we get struck by lightning?" said Spike. "Or the wind collapses the balloon? Or we get blown into a tree?"

Twilight Sparkle laughed. Red magic shimmered around her horn, dancing up toward the sky in a wavering aurora. "I've taken every precaution, Spike! We have a lightning rod and a grounding cable. I have every stabilization spell I know on the balloon. And we're half a mile from any tree. Nothing can possibly go wrong!"

Spike dug his claws into the basket's rope handles. "I hate it when you say that."

Twilight concentrated on the storm, frowning, both front hooves curled around the basket's rim. The wind battered the balloon, making the basket sway like a carnival ride. Somewhere high above the storm flew five pegasi, each carrying a crystal in a harness on its back. Twilight's magic reflected through the crystals and formed the storm. Outside the perimeter of the crystals, there was no storm at all.

"Princess Celestia will be so impressed that I learned this spell!" Twilight yelled over the wind's roar. "Weather magic isn't something unicorns learn on their own! This is extremely advanced!"

Spike clung to the basket as the first raindrops pelted his scales. He blinked his green eyes. "Great! Can we stop now?"

"Not yet!" Twilight leaned out of the basket, and more power poured from her horn.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Then there was a second thundercrack, and someone screamed. Spike heaved himself up on the basket's rim to look down.

Something flashed out of the Everfree Forest in the distance, flew across the field beneath the balloon, and plowed to a stop in the sodden grass, tearing up a furrow of brown earth. "Oh my gosh!" Twilight and Spike gasped at the same time.

Twilight shook her head and the magic faded from her horn. "It'll take a while for this storm to stop, I'd nearly gotten it to the peak." She turned to a crank on the basket's side and turned it with magic.

Spike kept staring at the figure in the trench. "He's not moving. I think he's dead!"

Twilight bit her lip and kept turning. The balloon lowered inch by inch, the wind knocking it around and rain blowing sideways into the basket.

Finally they reached the ground. Twilight and Spike leaped out and ran through sheets of pouring rain to the figure. The trench was already filled with puddles of rainwater. The figure was half-curled in a spiky ball. It wasn't a pony.

Twilight prodded the figure with a hoof. He didn't move. Gently she encircled him in a levitation field and lifted him out of the trench. "Is he a porcupine?" said Spike. "He's got quills all over him."

"I think he's a hedgehog," said Twilight. The blue hedgehog wore white gloves and red sneakers, now coated thoroughly with mud. "Let's get him back to the library. I'll call Fluttershy, she's good with strange creatures."

Spike jumped on Twilight's back, and she teleported them back home.

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><p>Twilight's library was built inside of an enormous old oak tree. The library shelves spiraled vertically through the tree's interior, and the sleeping room was ten feet from the ground, reachable only by a set of winding steps carved out of the tree's living wood. The library housed just over a thousand books, which Twilight regularly re-cataloged as the mood struck.<p>

Spike made a bed for the stranger out of a couple of blankets and a pillow on the floor. Twilight laid him on it, then began yanking books off the shelves at random. Spike sighed at the stacks of books. He'd only finished re-shelving them that morning.

Twilight opened a book, flipped the pages with magic, and stopped with a smile. "Here it is! I knew I had a cleaning spell in here somewhere." She trotted to the hedgehog, touched her horn to the mud on his arm, and shot a pulse of magic into it. The mud vanished from the hedgehog's entire body. He was a royal blue all over, except for his muzzle and belly, which were covered in fine brown fur.

"I sent a message to the pegasai," said Twilight. "They're moving the storm down to Sweet Apple Acres where some fields need rain. It'll be clear here in fifteen minutes."

"Good," said Spike. "I hope Fluttershy gets here soon. This hedgehog is breathing, but I don't know if his skull is cracked or anything."

"Me neither." Twilight trotted to the door, opened it and looked out. Then she stood back and held the door open.

A yellow pony with a pink mane and tail stepped in. She wore an orange raincoat draped over her head and back, and mud splattered her hooves. "I came as soon as I got your message," she said softly, shaking off the raincoat. Twilight hung it on a peg beside the door.

Fluttershy carried a basket on her back filled with tiny bandages and critter treats. She wiped her hooves on the doormat. "Where's this hurt creature?"

Spike motioned to the hedgehog. Fluttershy walked up and stared, her eyes widening. "Oh. He's a big hedgehog. I thought you meant one of the little ones."

"Have you ever seen a big hedgehog?" said Twilight, walking up beside her and gazing at their visitor.

"I'm afraid not," said Fluttershy. "But I'll do what I can." She gently prodded the hedgehog's head and neck with practiced, delicate hooves. She worked his arms and legs, and poked the end of one of his spines. "I don't think he's badly injured. Just knocked out. What happened to him?"

Twilight and Spike took turns explaining about the storm, the distant scream, and the fast-moving hedgehog who had crashed beneath their balloon. As they talked, Fluttershy gazed down at the hedgehog, ears flattened in pity. Then she stiffened. "He's waking up!"

The hedgehog's eyelids flickered open. He lay there gazing at them for a long moment with improbable green eyes. Slowly he sat up and groaned, rubbing his head. "Where am I?"

"We brought you to the library after you hurt yourself during the storm," said Twilight in a rush. "I'm really sorry because I was only practicing a new weather spell so Princess Celestia will give me extra credit and-"

The hedgehog closed his eyes and winced. "No, I mean, like what town?"

"Oh." Twilight grinned nervously. "This is Ponyville."

"Ponyville," said the hedgehog. His eyes drifted from Twilight to Fluttershy to Spike. "What's a dragon doing in a place called Ponyville?"

"I hatched his egg," said Twilight. "His name is Spike. I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Fluttershy."

The hedgehog extended a hand and shook their hooves and Spike's paw. "Charmed. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, but you can call me Sonic." He climbed to his feet and stepped out of the blankets. "Thanks for picking me up, but I need to get home." He walked toward the door.

Twilight shot an alarmed look at Spike and Fluttershy and hurried after him. "Wait! You can't leave so soon!"

"Sure I can," said Sonic. He opened the door and peered out. "Looks like the rain's stopped. Which way is New Mobitropolis? I can find my way home from there."

"Um." Twilight stopped dead, eyes unfocusing. "Hold on." She galloped back to her bookshelves, tore books off the shelves, and returned with an immense atlas floating in front of her. She opened it and paged through it with magic. Sonic stared at her glowing horn and the book, but kept his thoughts to himself.

"Here's Equestria," said Twilight. "There's nothing called Mobitropolis anywhere around here."

Sonic peered at the map and frowned, eyebrows lowering. "Wait. I've never seen this area before. We're still on Mobius, right?"

"No," said Twilight. "This is the world Equus."

"No way!" Sonic shot out the door like a bullet, the wind in his wake ruffling the ponies' manes and flipping pages in the atlas.

"Wait!" yelled Twilight, galloping after him. By the time she reached the door, Sonic was out of sight. "Oh my gosh, he's as fast as Rainbow Dash!"

"Better get Rainbow to find him," said Spike, shaking his head.

Fluttershy hid behind a chair and said nothing.

Twilight galloped down the muddy road in search of Rainbow Dash.

* * *

><p>Sonic fled across fields and through patches of woods, jumping streams and trying to avoid the ponies. Ponies everywhere! Little houses with yards full of pretty flowers, farms with acres of green corn, houses built inside of trees, neat paved roads. Ponies pulling carts, ponies grazing, ponies talking, ponies everywhere. Not a Mobian in sight.<p>

The hedgehog's flight carried him north, alongside a set of train tracks. Mountains rose above the trees, and he made for them with the idea of gaining some altitude for a look around. Then he rounded a bend and skidded to a halt.

A city was built on a cliff halfway up the nearest mountain spur. The buildings themselves covered the cliff and flared outward at each floor, giving the impression of weightlessness. The white walls and golden tower roofs sparkled in the morning sunlight.

It was beautiful and yet completely alien. Sonic raised both hands and let them fall. "Great. Just great. What are you doing to do now, hedgehog? You're stuck on ponyworld." He sat down on the embankment beside the train tracks and put his head in his hands. So that's what had happened when everything went all dark and weird-looking. Then the eyes, and the voice, and he'd run for his life-and suddenly it was raining-

"Hey, you down there!"

Sonic whipped his head back. "Oh man, they fly, too!"

A sky-blue pony circled overhead, feathery wings outstretched. An eight-colored tail streamed behind her like a rainbow comet. She inspected Sonic from a safe distance. "You won't attack me or anything, will you?"

Sonic stood up. "Not unless you plan to drop some road apples on me."

The pony laughed and shook her head. "Don't be gross! I'm coming down. Don't run away, okay?"

Sonic stood his ground and watched the blue pony dive to the ground and land in a canter. She jogged to a half a few steps away, folded her wings and stared at Sonic. Her mane, rainbow-striped, was an untidy mess that hung in her eyes. Not like the carefully-groomed purple and yellow ponies he'd seen earlier. "I'm Rainbow Dash," she said. "I saw you running. You're pretty fast."

"Yeah, so what?" said Sonic, kicking a rock. "I can't get back home. I'm stuck on this weird world, whatever it is. I don't even know how I got here."

"Well, it's no good standing out here talking about it," said Rainbow Dash. "How about we head back to Ponyville? If you wanted to run, it'd be all right with me. Run fast, I mean. Really fast."

Sonic heaved a sigh. "Fine, whatever. Lead the way."

The pony exploded off the ground in a blast of wings that flung dust in his face. Sonic shielded his eyes, and noted what direction she was headed. She was fast, but he didn't care. Sonic's competitive spirit had wilted inside of him, along with his hopes. He set out after her at a slow lope, just fast enough to keep the pony in sight.

Rainbow Dash slowed and circled, waiting for him. "Aw, come on!" she called down. "Don't you want to race?"

Sonic kept jogging and didn't answer. He just wanted to go home, not compete against some random pony for the sake of her ego.

They made their way back toward a little town of houses, shops and streets. A nice place to visit, but not so nice to be stranded for the rest of his life. Tails would have had a running commentary for everything they saw. He'd be itching to take apart their train and find out how it worked. Heck, he'd be busy formulating theories for how that unicorn's horn worked.

Outside of town rose the enormous tree with the library inside it. Sonic slowed to a toe-dragging walk. The blue pony landed and trotted beside him, swishing her tail in annoyance. "What's the matter with you? I couldn't catch you at first, then I can't even get you to run afterward!"

"I don't want to be here," said Sonic, spines drooping. "My friends won't know what's happened. They'll think I ran off and abandoned them. That's like the worst possible thing I could ever do, you know?"

Rainbow's head drooped a little and her ears flattened. "I hear you. Where are you from, anyway?"

"Mobius. I think it's another world. Anyway, it's not here."

They reached the tree house's front step. Rainbow pawed the door handle with a hoof, and it clicked open. "Hey, I found Sonic!"

Sonic stepped inside and faced a sea of multi-colored ponies. So many liquid, expressive eyes, so many brushed and styled manes, so many quadrupeds. He almost turned and fled, but steeled himself and stepped forward to meet them.

As it turned out, there were only three more ponies he hadn't met. Their names swirled by him in a bewildering stream-Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie-as well as Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash followed him inside, looking pleased with herself. "I ran him down all by myself. He's not that fast."

Sonic folded his arms and looked around at them all. "Hey girls. What, don't they make guy ponies?"

A nervous giggle rippled through the room. "Yes," said Twilight, "it's just that these are all my best friends. Anyway, I wanted you to tell us how you got here."

"Oh. Well." Sonic drew a deep breath. "Okay, I was just running down this one path through the Great Forest. I've been down it a million times. Tails had made some changes to the Tornado and wanted me to see 'em. I was about halfway to Knothole when all of a sudden the world went all dark. But not like night. Like everything went photo-negative. The sky was black, but the trees were white. I stopped, because I thought something was wrong with me. Like I was going to pass out or something. Then I heard this noise behind me, and here came this thing with yellow eyes behind me. I swear it was a dragon, kind of like him." Sonic pointed at Spike.

"Only bigger. So I ran like crazy. I broke the sound barrier, because I felt the drag, then it went with a bang, and suddenly it was raining. Then I lost control and crashed. That's all I remember."

"Wait," said Rainbow Dash. "You can break the sound barrier on foot?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, duh. I do it all the time."

For half a second Rainbow gaped at him. Then she hoisted a smirk onto her face. "Well, I can do a sonic rainboom. Can you do a sonic rainboom?"

Sonic ignored her. "The thing was, the black light and the dragon were on my side of the world. It chased me through the gap or whatever. I didn't even have a chaos emerald, so I couldn't do anything about it."

"What's a chaos emerald?" asked the white pony with a curly purple mane. "It sounds absolutely gorgeous."

Sonic held up two fists pressed together. "They're gems about this big, and they're basically made of chaos energy. I use 'em to do all kinds of stuff, like teleport."

"So it's magic," said Twilight.

Sonic frowned. "No, it's chaos."

"Like the things Discord does? Making random things appear and all that?"

Sonic blinked. "I suppose it could, but it never does."

"Well," said an orange pony wearing a cowboy hat, "why don't y'all go back to where Sonic came through and have a look around? Might be something to give us a clue about what happened."

"Right," said Sonic.

"You go," said a pink pony with balloons tattooed on her rump. "I'm going to stay here and set up for a party. A Welcome to Ponyville Sonic party!"

"Uh, you don't have to-" Sonic began.

The pink pony zipped up to him and flung a foreleg around his neck. She smelled like cake frosting. "You're the first person ever to visit from another world, and I'm gonna show you how we party in Equestria! I hope you like cake!"

She released him and shot out the door like a pink, party-themed rocket. Sonic stared after her, bemused.

Twilight patted his shoulder with a hoof. "You'll get used to Pinkie Pie. She's very ... enthusiastic."

Sonic and the five ponies trooped out of Ponyville to the meadow where a magenta hot air balloon still floated a few feet from the ground, tethered with a rope and a cable. Just beyond it was the trench where Sonic had crashed.

Sonic whistled and walked along it. "I must have spindashed at the last second to do this. Defensive mechanism."

"What's a spindash?" said Rainbow Dash. "Is it fast?"

Sonic curled into a ball and rolled a few feet, then uncurled and stood up. "It's better when I build up some momentum first. But I get pretty dangerous at high speeds." He ran a hand through his stiff blue spines. "You ought to see what I do to robots." He jogged off in the opposite direction of the trench, and the ponies followed him.

They reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. Large trees had broken branches, and smaller trees had been snapped in half by the hedgehog's supersonic passage. Twilight measured the space between the broken stumps and the ground. "These are all broken at three point two inches from the ground. Were you flying or something?"

"At those speeds, yeah," said Sonic, picking his way along his damage path. "My chaos field lifts me off the ground a little and turns into a shield that keeps me from picking up bugs and stuff. Otherwise I'd kill myself."

"Chaos field?" said Twilight, hurrying to keep pace with him. "That's your magical aura, right?"

Sonic shrugged.

The damage path stretched three hundred feet in a straight line, as if a tornado had torn through the forest. Then it ended. Undamaged trees stood inches from broken limbs. It looked as if Sonic had appeared out of thin air.

Twilight's horn glowed yellow, and she bowed her head and swept the edge of the damage with magic. "There's something weird here. Look at this, everybody."

Ponies and hedgehog crowded around to see a long black line on the ground. It shimmered a little under Twilight's reveal spell, as if they saw it through a heat haze.

"What's that, a portal?" said Sonic. He reached out before anyone could stop him, and touched it.

Something screamed, an unearthly, howling wail. The black line burst out of the ground and became a ghostly dragon with glaring yellow-green eyes. Sonic sprang back, arms out to shield the ponies. Behind him, Twilight fired a bolt of magic at the dragon. It passed through the middle of its face, and the dragon dissolved into black mist.

"What was that thing?" said Sonic, dropping his arms.

"I don't know," murmured Twilight. "What did you girls think?"

"It was a dragon," said Fluttershy, cowering behind Rarity.

"A ghost dragon," said Applejack. "Does that mean it's dead?"

Rarity tossed her mane. "A ghost dragon can't hurt anyone. Scare them, yes." She tossed a pitying look over her shoulder at Fluttershy.

But Fluttershy stared off to the left, shivering. Wordless, she lifted a hoof and pointed.

Another ghost dragon stalked toward them, its body shimmering and solidifying as it moved. It was bigger than the other one, and saliva dripped from its lower jaw.

"Run!" Sonic yelled.

The ponies fled, but Sonic stood his ground, facing down the beast. It snarled, and Sonic snarled right back. "You brought me here," Sonic growled. "You're going to take me home."

The dragon crouched and its body became completely solid. Violet scales covered its body, and poison-green spikes lined its backbone. Its muscles bulged and its claws sank into the ground, preparing to spring.

Twilight appeared in a flash of light, wrapped a foreleg around Sonic's arm, and disappeared just as the dragon lunged, its jaws snapping where Sonic had been.


	2. Chapter 2: Shadow dragons

Twilight and Sonic reappeared out in the sunny meadow. Sonic looked around wildly. "Where is it?"

Twilight pointed back toward the forest. "Look, there it is!"

The brush bent aside and the dragon stared out at them. But it didn't venture into the open. Instead it turned and stalked away. The brush sprang back into place, concealing its departure.

Sonic heaved a sigh of relief. "That was a close one. Thanks, Twilight."

"You're welcome," said Twilight, staring at the forest's edge.

They'd reappeared near the hot air balloon, and Sonic jogged around it in a circle to release the tension in his legs. The other ponies had made it almost all the way back to the library, and were walking back across the meadow toward him, talking among themselves.

So there weren't just magical ponies here in Ponyland. There were freaky-deaky ghost dragons, too. What other monsters might be out there? Sonic stopped and looked toward the forest, trying to calm his jolting heart. That dragon had been on Mobius first. What if it waylaid someone else on the road? Like Sally? Or Tails? They wouldn't have the speed to outrun it and get sucked into another world. Or whatever had happened.

For a second Sonic almost remembered a vast glowing wing, sweeping pinions, a cloudy blue glow. The shape of a white hedgehog's fan-like forelock. Then the half-memories faded, leaving Sonic clenching his fists in frustration. Ever since visiting Soleanna three months ago, he'd had this problem. What had happened that he'd forgotten?

He focused on Twilight, trying to memorize the shape of her face and the cluster of stars tattooed on her rump. Whatever happened, he wouldn't forget this, and these ponies. Maybe those ghost dragons had eaten his memories.

Twilight looked over her shoulder and her ears flattened. "Sonic? Are you okay?"

"I don't know," said Sonic. He tried to grin his usual happy-go-lucky grin, but his face wouldn't quite do it. "If that dragon's from my world, it might attack my friends there. We all use that road all the time."

Twilight frowned. "We'd better go back to the library. I might have a book of dragons there." She galloped straight through the group of other ponies, who stopped and watched her go by.

"What's goin' on here, Sonic?" said the orange pony with the cowboy hat. "Did you bring that dragon with you?"

"I don't know," he said. "Twilight's checking something." He sprinted after her, leaving the other ponies staring after him.

Sonic skidded to a stop at the library door, and a blast of air hit him from behind. He glanced over his shoulder to see Rainbow Dash backwatering with her wings, trying not to hit the tree. She'd tried to race him again. Sheesh. Sonic shook his head and went inside.

Twilight had placed a fat, leather-bound book on a stand and was paging through it magically. Sonic walked up and looked at it. It was full of hand-drawn illustrations of dragons. Lizards of every shape, size and color, most with wings, some without. Some breathed fire and others shot poison, like snakes.

"I hope all those don't live around here," said Sonic.

"No, no," said Twilight. "We only have a few local varieties. Most of these are scattered all over the world. I'm not seeing any that look like the ones we saw."

Sonic glanced at Spike, who sat on Twilight's back and studied the book with his little brow wrinkled in concentration. "What kind of dragon is Spike, again?"

"Magic-breather," said Twilight, turning a page.

Sonic eyed Spike's green spikes and purple scales. "So, Spike, were your family ever ghostly ravenous beasts?"

Spike looked up at Sonic, then interlaced his claws and stared at them. "I don't know. Twilight hatched me."

Sonic shook his head and walked to a window. The other ponies stood on the path outside, talking and nodding. Then the pink one trotted up, almost completely hidden under a huge bag on her back. She squeezed through the door and dumped her bag in the center of the room. A cannon's mouth emerged from the open end, and fired.

Red and yellow streamers flew across the room, connecting themselves to bookshelves and railings. A box landed on a table and unfolded to reveal a blue cake with yellow decorations.

Pinkie dashed here and there, fixing party hats on everyone, including Sonic. A gramophone appeared and began to play dance music. Why didn't Rainbow Dash try to race Pinkie instead of him? Pinkie put him to shame.

Sonic was forced to dance with ponies, eat cake he didn't want, and generally act happier than he felt. After half an hour he escaped outdoors while everyone else was playing a game Twilight had invented, called Match the Book Title to the Genre.

It was too obvious to just run away. Sonic peered up at the tree's broad, spreading branches. A quick dash carried him up the tree trunk and onto one of the branches thirty feet from the ground. There he sat and rested his head in his hands. His heart weighed in his chest like a stone. All he wanted was to go home. That was it. He was an alien in this world, the only creature who went on two legs.

A horrible thought struck him. Sonic held up one arm and exerted pressure on his chaos field. Usually he could get his field to appear just by focusing on it. It'd show up as a bit of shiny an inch from his fur, like plastic. But now, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his field to show up.

If he wasn't on Mobius, there was no global chaos field to support his personal chaos aura. No chaos, no breaking the sound barrier. No getting home.

Sonic kept trying anyway. He was only distracted when the door opened down below, and Twilight's voice said, "No, I don't know where he went. I don't see him anywhere!"

"I'll find him!" said Rainbow Dash. She flew away into the sky like a brightly-colored comet. Sonic smirked. Nobody would ever look up in the tree.

"If the guest of honor is gone, I guess the party's over," said Pinkie, head and tail drooping. She went back inside, and there was a tremendous crashing noise. A moment later Pinkie emerged from the tree, carrying the giant bag again.

One by one the other ponies departed, promising Twilight their assistance. Sonic watched them go, unnoticed on his lofty perch. Twilight stood on her doorstep and watched them go. Once everyone was out of sight, she looked up at Sonic with a twinkle in her eyes. "You can come down now."

"How'd you know where I was?"

Twilight beamed. "I kept an eye on you, of course. I could tell you didn't want a party." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Neither did I, to tell the truth."

Sonic ran down the tree trunk and managed to stop before he'd left the tree's shadow. He walked back to Twilight. "So now what?"

"Come inside. We're going to write to Princess Celestia."

* * *

><p>Sonic watched Spike's fire-like breath incinerate the letter, and flopped in a chair. "And you're sure this princess will get it?"<p>

"Positive," said Twilight. "She needs to know about your problem."

Sonic glanced pointedly at a wall clock. "And how long before we get a reply?"

"Well, give her a chance to read the letter and write back," said Twilight. "It might take a few minutes." She walked around the library, picking up stray pieces of confetti. She passed books up to Spike, who scampered along the shelves, returning each volume to its place.

Suddenly Spike burped and green fire blasted out of his mouth. It turned into a rolled-up letter and dropped to the floor. Twilight caught it with magic before it hit the ground. "Aha!" She unrolled it and opened it. Her eyes flicked back and forth, and her smile vanished. "Oh. She says for us to come to Canterlot at once."

"Joy." Sonic stood up. "How far is it?"

"About fifteen miles. We'll take the train. Come on, Spike!" Twilight trotted out of the library with the dragon on her back, and Sonic followed.

The next train for Canterlot departed in half an hour. Twilight bought tickets and showed Sonic around Ponyville a little. Sonic followed her and looked around with plausible interest, but he didn't say much. Twilight's heart sank. Was it just her imagination, or had his blue color faded a little? Color fading was never a good sign in Equestria.

In an attempt to cheer him up, she bought him an ice cream from a street vendor. "Hey, thanks!" Sonic's eyes lit up for a while as he ate his treat. When Spike gave Twilight an injured look, she bought him one, too.

A few minutes before departure, Twilight and Sonic returned to the train station, Spike riding on Twilight's back, and boarded the train. Sonic sat on a bench and gazed out the window in silence. Twilight took the seat opposite Sonic's, and Spike climbed off her back onto the seat. He licked his claws and stared at Sonic.

The train's whistle sounded and they slowly chugged out of the station. As Ponyville's buildings fell behind them, Spike said, "Twilight, what if I am really one of those ... bad dragons?"

"Oh Spike," said Twilight, "those are something completely different from you."

The baby dragon looked down. "But we don't know for sure."

Twilight hated to answer. "No."

"I don't want to grow up and be a monster, Twilight." Spike looked up at her, green eyes wide. "You saw what happened on my birthday, when I got all ... greedy."

Twilight shook her mane. "But that was dragonspell, not real growth. Dragons take a long time to grow up, and you'll be with me for a long time yet."

"But what if that happens again?" said Spike, ignoring Sonic, who was now gazing at them with ears pricked. "What if I grow up into a ghost dragon and try to eat people?"

"They did look like you," said Sonic.

Twilight shot him a look. "Thanks a lot, Sonic."

Sonic shrugged. "It's the truth. Where'd you get his egg?"

"Princess Celestia gave it to me." Twilight's voice dropped to a whisper. She lowered her head, a terrible idea taking shape in her head. What if Spike really was one of those unknown ghostly dragons, and the Princess had given him to Twilight for Twilight to study and civilize? What if Spike was some sort of complicated test? She stared at him with new eyes. No longer her friend and semi-child, Spike was now an enormous problem to be solved.

Sonic leaned back on the bench and rested his feet on the window ledge. "So ask the princess when we get there. I mean, if you send her letters all the time, surely she'll answer a couple of questions, right?"

Twilight inhaled. "Yes. Yes, I can."

Spike stared at his feet for a long time. None of them spoke. Sonic dozed, and Twilight fretted. Everything had been going just fine until Sonic showed up. Her schedule had been perfect. It was Applejack's week to write to Princess Celestia, letting Twilight off the hook for that. No stress. No worries except catching an interesting arrangement of planets over the next couple of nights with her telescope.

Then wham. In comes Sonic from another world, being chased by weird dragons nobody had ever seen, and Spike might be one of them. So much for Twilight's schedule, and her sanity, for that matter. Not to mention Sonic's disturbing color loss. He looked all right for now. Hopefully this meeting with Princess Celestia would keep him from graying too much further.

* * *

><p>Princess Celestia and her sister Luna watched the train arrive from their palace high at the top of Canterlot. Celestia was pure white with a pastel-colored mane that flowed from her neck like a seaweed forest underwater. In contrast, her sister Luna was all black, with a star-studded indigo mane.<p>

Celestia said, "I sincerely hope Twilight is mistaken. The world's borders have always been secure."

"Maybe that's not the case now," murmured Luna. "What with Discord's effects, and the latest problems with the Crystal Empire, perhaps the barrier is more ... porous." She looked up at her larger sister. "What of the question of the dragons?"

Celestia's mouth flattened into a line. "As I said, I hope Twilight was mistaken."

The pair watched the road that wound up to the palace. After a while, Twilight appeared with Spike on her back. But a bipedal blue hedgehog walked beside her, wearing red sneakers and grinning as he pointed at various things.

Luna's eyes narrowed, and she glanced at Celestia.

"Oh Harmony," breathed Celestia. "The borders have cracked."

* * *

><p>Sonic admired the palace as they walked through it. Lots of golden filigree, red carpets, and stained glass windows. The windows depicted all kinds of heroic deeds, and he thought he even spotted Twilight and her friends in a few of them.<p>

Sonic had done heroic deeds lately. But he couldn't remember them. He rubbed his temples and frowned. There was a black void somewhere in his mind. He couldn't touch it or get close to it, but it existed simply by nature of what was absent. Something had happened, something of cosmic significance, and he couldn't remember it. Maybe it was what had lured those ghost dragons to him.

Twilight led him to a pair of high doors with guards on either side. They wore helmets and body armor, and their manes and tails were cropped short. "Hey," said Sonic, "you do have guy ponies here!"

The guards stared at him.

"Come on, this way," said Twilight, hurrying through the door. "Now remember to bow and be polite."

Sonic followed Twilight down the long hall leading to the two thrones. The Princesses Celestia and Luna stood on the throne dais, waiting for them. Wow, Celestia was taller than he was. Why was she so big when everybody else was so short? A different kind of pony, maybe? At least Luna was closer to normal size. Both of them had unicorn horns as well as wings.

Twilight, Spike and Sonic reached the dias and bowed. Twilight bent her front legs and lowered her head, and Sonic bowed from the waist, not sure of what was proper here in four-legged-land.

"Welcome, Twilight, Spike and Sonic the Hedgehog," said Celestia. "I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna."

Sonic nodded. "Hi."

"Thanks for seeing us so quickly," said Twilight, beaming up at the monarchs with the familiarity of an old friend. "I've been trying to figure out how to get Sonic home, but I've never even heard of cross-world spells. And there's these new kind of dragons hanging around the spot where he came through, so we can't even go back and look around."

"Describe these dragons," said Celestia, stepping down off the dais. "Were they like this?" Her horn glowed gold, and an image appeared in midair. It was a black, snaky dragon with tiny wings and big fangs.

"No," said Twilight. "It was smaller and didn't have wings."

"Like me," said Spike in a low voice. "Only bigger."

Celestia and Luna exchanged a wide-eyed glance. Sonic watched all this and waited, heart sinking into his stomach. He was the problem. He hated being the problem. They'd cross-examine him soon.

Celestia's horn lit up again, and one of the ghost dragons appeared. Like a bigger version of Spike, purple with green spines on its back, and no wings. Twilight pointed a hoof. "That's it! That's what we saw!"

When the Princesses looked inquiringly at Sonic, he nodded. "Yeah. That's them. Only they turned ghostly and vanished and reappeared and stuff."

Celestia shook her head to wave away the image. She walked out into the middle of the throne room. "Our world, Equus, is a guarded world. There are many things Outside that would love to come and devour us. Long, long ago, when I was a filly, protections were laid down to prevent contact with other worlds. Monsters rampaged across the land. The sun and moon were at odds. Ponies died by the thousands. So my predecessor, Matron Exalta, laid spells on the world borders. Spells that must never be broken, or indeed, spoken of at all."

Celestia faced Twilight, Spike and Sonic. "But Sonic, your presence here means that something has failed in the border spells. In order to send you back, we shall have to crack the borders further, possibly resulting in exposing Equus to the ravages of Outside."

There was a brief silence. Twilight's eyes widened. Sonic studied the carpet. He was worse than the problem. He was a threat. Why did this have to happen?

From his spot beside Twilight, Spike said, "What about me? Am I one of those dragons?"

Celestia turned and gazed at him, mane rippling like a living thing. "I can't be certain, Spike. Your egg was located far from here and brought here with the utmost care. But always remember: who you are is defined by your choices, not your race."

Spike wilted and leaned against Twilight's foreleg.

Celestia turned to Sonic. "And you, Sonic. You carry a burden all your own."

Sonic met her liquid violet eyes under their long lashes. Far from accusation or blame, he saw only compassion there. The knot in his chest eased a little. "Maybe. I don't remember anything weird. But-it's what I don't remember that bothers me. Something happened, I don't know what."

The ponies and dragon all frowned at him. Sonic's spines drooped and his ears flattened. "I'm not crazy, I swear."

"Twilight," said Celestia, "come with me." She turned and walked out of the throne room, Twilight and Spike hurrying to keep up with her. Sonic and Luna were left alone.

Sonic swung his arms and walked in a circle, trying to ignore the black mare's stare. Finally he turned and met her indigo eyes. "What? Don't you talk?"

Princess Luna stepped off the dais and walked up to Sonic. She stepped so close that her breath fanned his face, and stared into his eyes. Sonic leaned backward a little and met her gaze. She didn't seem threatening, only curious. Her eyes were deep, dark blue, and stars glinted in their depths. It was as if Sonic looked through a window into a galaxy inside her.

Luna gasped and backed up a step, and turned her head to break eye contact.

"What?" said Sonic.

Luna's eyes flicked to his face, then away. "Some things are best left forgotten, Sonic."

"What? Did you just read my mind?" When Luna didn't reply, Sonic stepped up to her and touched her star-studded mane. It was sleek, yet coarse horsehair.

"My power is that of the night," said Luna. "Often times I can see things lost in darkness that my sister cannot."

The void in his mind. "You saw my lost memories? So they're still there? What was it?"

Luna shot him a wary look and backed away from his hand. "Be brave, Sonic. Perhaps it is not something horrible that you were made to forget. Sometimes it is the wonderful things that torment the worst."

Luna trotted back to the dais as the doors opened, and Celestia and Twilight reappeared. Twilight was all smiles. Spike rode on her back with a small leather bag in his paws. "Remember what I told you," said Celestia. She turned to Sonic and smiled, as warm as the morning sun. "Steps are being taken to set things to rights, Sonic. You will need to lay aside your anxieties and live in the present, not the past."

"Come on," murmured Twilight, "let's go." She and Sonic bowed, and they hurried out of the throne room.

"Did you learn something?" said Sonic. He would keep Luna's words to himself. He had the feeling she wasn't supposed to speak to him as she had.

"Sort of," said Twilight. "It's more like a couple of things to try. Princess Celestia always has the best ideas! I'll tell you about them on the train."

"Eh," said Sonic, "how about once we get back to Ponyville? I'm just going to run alongside the train. All this standing around has me antsy."


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

Twilight watched Sonic out the window all the way back as he ran alongside the train, faster or slower, and making faces at the ponies. Spike made faces back.

When the train reached the Ponyville station, Sonic stood just outside the platform with a lemonade. He waved to Twilight and Spike. "Hey guys. About time your slowpoke train got here."

Twilight giggled. "It's a shame Rainbow Dash didn't see you outrunning the train like that."

Sonic snorted. "She's got wings. I'm running. It's not even the same thing."

They walked through Ponyville back toward Twilight's library. Spike walked with his eyes on the ground, tail low. Twilight lowered her head and nosed him. "Are you all right?"

"I wish I knew what I was," said the little dragon. "I think Princess Celestia knew exactly where I came from, she just didn't say so outright." He looked up at Twilight, reptilian eyes anxious. "How could we find out?"

"I don't know," Twilight said. She watched Sonic jogging up ahead, and her ears flattened for a moment. "Even with the Elements, Spike, I think we're in over our heads."

While Sonic and Twilight examined books, and Sonic doodled with an ink quill all over one of Twilight's schedules, Spike climbed up to the loft and curled up in his basket. He usually didn't think too much about being a dragon. He just was one. Smaller than a pony, kind of chubby, and very bright for his age.

But what if he learned how to appear and disappear, and developed a taste for ponies? Maybe the world's border spells held him in check, just for being a dragon, and as the spells went away, he'd lose control and go crazy. The memory of last time burned in his heart, of all the damage he'd done to Ponyville. Thank Celestia he hadn't actually killed anyone.

The ghost dragon hung in his mind's eye, shading into reality as it paced toward Sonic, the ponies, and himself.

The ghost dragons would know.

Spike climbed out of bed, jumped from the loft to the top of the nearest bookcase, ran along it, then climbed down a window frame to the partially-open door. It was the quickest route out of the library, and Twilight didn't even notice him. Her muzzle was buried in a book, as usual. Sonic sat in a chair with his back turned, invisible except for his red sneakers.

Spike raced away into the meadow where the hot air balloon was moored, then followed Sonic's entry-trail into the Everfree Forest. It was a long hike for such short legs, and Spike arrived after forty-five minutes of jogging, and had to stand in the shade and pant for breath. Maybe he should cut back on the ice cream.

Once he didn't feel as if his lungs were about to collapse, Spike picked his way into the woods. Sonic's trail was wide and clear, and in the middle distance was the spot where Sonic had appeared. Maybe the strange spell was still there. Or maybe it had been a dragon and it was gone now.

Spike was nearly there when something growled.

He spun around with a gasp, and only belatedly remembered to try to look fierce. He bared his teeth. "Who's there?"

The shadows under a tree drew together and formed the outline of one of the dragons. It was about the size of Princess Celestia-not overwhelmingly huge, but a lot bigger than Spike. Its green eyes appeared first, then the rest of its shape filled in with scales and bulging muscle. It stared at him, blinking.

Spike growled and stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"I'm a shadow dragon," it said in a deep, growly voice. "You're a hatchling of our kind. But how did you get here?"

Spike's heart sank straight to his toes. Even a shadow dragon could identify him at a glance. Mustering his courage, Spike raised his head and said, "I was born here, thanks. What are you people doing here?"

The shadow dragon raised its head and arched its tail, as if making up for the lack of wings. "We're returning from Outside, little one. Exalta fenced us out, and we're coming to exact revenge on her people. I'd give half my horde to know how someone managed to get your egg through the border."

Spike wanted to know that, himself. "So that's not something that happens?"

"No." The dragon bared its teeth. "Have you begun destroying the ponies, or have they tamed you?"

"Uh." Twilight flashed before Spike's eyes, smiling and kind, followed by Rarity's gorgeous glistening mane. "I think I should go now. Bye!" He bolted.

The shadow dragon let him go, but its deep, ugly laughter followed Spike all the way out of the forest.

Spike ran all the way back to the library, expecting at any moment to hear heavy footfalls and hear teeth snapping behind him. But nothing happened except he winded himself. Spike sat outside the library door and rested so Twilight wouldn't notice anything was wrong.

But Twilight opened the door and poked her head out. "Oh, Spike! I was looking all over for you. What's the matter?"

Spike looked up at Twilight as fear pounded through him. He stood up, wrapped his paws around her foreleg and hid his face against it, as he had when a newborn.

Twilight gently scooped him up and held him against her chest, and Spike burrowed his head into her mane. He sighed against her neck. "I talked to a shadow dragon."

"You did what?" Twilight stiffened. "Spike, that's really dangerous! Are you all right?"

"It didn't hurt me," Spike said. But his heart pounded so hard in his chest he thought he might pass out. He drew a deep, quivering breath. "It said I was one of them, and asked how someone had gotten my egg through the border spells."

Twilight said nothing for a long moment. Spike peered up at her face and saw her eyes were closed. Without opening them, she whispered, "What else did it say?"

"It said ... it said Exalta fenced them out, but they're coming back to take revenge on her people."

Twilight rubbed his back with a hoof and neither of them spoke for a long time. Spike clung to her. Maybe baby dragons didn't need their mothers as much as he did. Maybe he was a shame to his species. Well, screw his species. Spike needed Twilight desperately right now. And if she decided he was too dangerous and sent him away, he'd probably walk five steps and die of a broken heart.

Twilight drew a deep breath. "Remember what Celestia said. It's not your species that defines you. It's your choices. You don't have to choose to be one of them."

Spike nodded. He'd barely noticed Celestia's words at the time, but now they carried terrible meaning. "She knows what I am."

Twilight smiled a little. "She knows just about everything, I think. Come on, let's go back inside before Sonic illustrates my schedule, my grocery list and my astronomy notes, too."

Sonic lay sideways in the armchair, asleep with one arm thrown across his eyes. Twilight tiptoed around him, recovered her papers and tucked them away in a cabinet drawer. Then she showed Spike a book she'd been reading.

"I've been reading about Exalta. She lived in a city called the Deep Covert. Apparently nobody lives there now because it's haunted, especially at dawn and dusk."

"Haunted?" said Spike, some of his cheerfulness returning. "Like, real ghosts? Dead ponies?"

"I don't know," said Twilight. "I don't believe in ghosts, but who knows what's going on? Some kind of magical echo, maybe. Exalta's city was renowned for its magical prowess. No wonder she knew how to build spells around the whole world." Twilight turned a page and revealed a map. "Here's Equestria," she said, pointing with the tip of a hoof. "Deep Covert is right along the river, near the border, here."

"That's a long walk," said Spike. "Almost a hundred miles. And there's all kinds forest and hills in the way."

"I'll teleport us a few times," said Twilight. "That should cut down on distance. Let me write notes to everybody and tell them to pack some bags. We're going camping tonight." She looked down at Spike and stroked his back with uncharacteristic gentleness. "Don't worry about what those dragons might be. You've been raised here, so you're almost a new kind of dragon altogether."

Spike tried to smile, although his face didn't want to work quite right. "Thanks, Twilight."

* * *

><p>Sonic awoke from his nap an hour later, groggy and thirsty. Twilight and Spike were upstairs, talking in low voices and rustling around. Sonic called, "Hey, Twilight, where might someone find a drink around here?"<p>

"Through the door on your left," she called down. "Cups in the cabinet, water from the pump."

The kitchen was outfitted with an old fashioned sink and hand pump, but when Sonic touched it, the pump worked itself and poured crystal clear water into the sink. He filled a cup and drank. Good, but somehow not Mobius's water. Homesickness ached inside him. He missed Sally's laughter and Tails's unquenchable cheerfulness. Heck, he missed everybody. But he'd better not show it or he'd hurt the ponies' feelings. They were trying hard, especially Twilight.

When Sonic emerged from the kitchen, Spike was cramming several books into a bag. He gave Sonic a wan smile. "We're going on a trip."

"A trip? Where to?"

"The Deep Covert," said Twilight, looking down from the loft with her mane slightly frizzled. "It's a haunted city where we might be able to fix the broken spells and send you home."

"Oh," said Sonic. He watched Spike's downcast face, and glanced at the harried way Twilight tossed things around with magic. In a low voice he asked Spike, "Did you guys have a fight or something?"

"Not exactly," said Spike quietly. "I talked to a shadow dragon and I'm one of them."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, duh, I knew you looked like them."

The little dragon shot Sonic a dirty look. "Can't you take anything seriously? I might be a monster when I grow up. How's that for a future?"

Sonic's spines drooped and his ears flattened. "Kid, take it from me, I know where you're coming from. I'm either my world's protector or its scourge, depending on who you talk to. I did something recently and I don't even know what it was. Luna told me to stop trying to remember it and she got all freaked out."

Spike stared at Sonic. "Luna did?"

The hedgehog nodded. "I'll thank you not to mention it to anybody. Anyway, I know it sounds like I'm not being serious, but that's how I'm coping. Laughing's better than moaning and groaning, right?"

Spike crammed another book in the bag. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm kind of grouchy right now. It'll be better once we're out."

Twilight looked over the edge of the loft. "Not meaning to eavesdrop, but the acoustics are funny in here. I won't tell anybody either, Sonic."

Sonic shot her a half-smile. "Thanks. So when do we leave?"

Twilight vanished and reappeared downstairs. "As soon as everybody gets here."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, five other ponies gathered in the library, all wearing saddle bags full of supplies.<p>

"I brought lots of food," said Applejack. "Apple fritters, apple pies, fresh apples, you name it, I've got it. Should keep us in places with no grass. Sonic might like them, too."

Rarity tossed her curled mane out of her eyes. "I brought us all raincoats and hiking gear, and it'll make you all look fabulous, too."

Spike gazed at Rarity and sighed. Sonic leaned down and whispered, "She's out of your league, kid."

Spike stuck out his tongue at Sonic.

Pinkie Pie bounced up and down. "And I brought all the fun!" One of her saddlebags popped open and a bunch of balloons exploded out of it. Pinkie hastily closed the bag before anything else could escape.

Rainbow Dash had stared at Sonic the whole time, waiting for him to move faster than a walk. She turned to Twilight. "I didn't bring any bags, but I'll do the weather for us. I've got a cloud packed with all my favorite snacks, and I can call it wherever I want." She shot Sonic a proud look, as if daring him to try to top that. Sonic ignored her.

Fluttershy stood behind the others, keeping furniture between herself and Sonic. "I brought everything I'll need," she said. "If anybody gets hurt, I have bandages and things." She gave Sonic a quick sideways glance. "Or if any critters get hurt."

"Great!" said Twilight. "I've got all the books we'll need. Huddle up, everybody, I'm going to give us a head start." Spike jumped up on her back as the ponies huddled around her. Sonic awkwardly leaned over and wound his fingers through Twilight's indigo mane.

Twilight screwed her eyes shut and bared her teeth as her horn blazed with red light. A bubble of light enveloped them for a second. Energy washed through Sonic's body exactly like a chaos teleport. Their surroundings changed to a gravel road through green hills topped with trees. A river glittered in the distance, parallel to the road.

"Excellent!" said Twilight. "Head east, everybody. I moved us twenty-five miles, so we only have seventy-five more miles to go!"

The whole herd broke into a brisk trot, and Sonic ran along with them. "Wait, seventy-five miles?" said Sonic. "How far is this place, again?"

"Only about a hundred miles," said Twilight over her shoulder. "I'll teleport us once in a while. I can cut the trip by at least half, maybe two thirds."

"Good," said Rarity. "I understand you need us for the Elements of Harmony, Twilight, but I have a deadline for my new ensemble that I really must meet."

Twilight nodded. "We should be back by tomorrow, Rarity. We'll find the Deep Covert, fix the border spells, send Sonic home, and come home. Simple."

Applejack cast Twilight a sidelong look from under her hat. "You make me nervous when you say things like that."

After fifteen minutes, the ponies dropped to a walk, panting through flared nostrils. Sonic walked with them. Applejack stepped up beside Twilight and whispered, "Is it just my imagination, or is Sonic losing his color?"

Twilight glanced at Sonic. He walked along with his eyes on the road and a frown, as if lost in gloomy thoughts. His deep blue had faded to a bluish-gray, and his eyes barely had any color, either. "I've tried to cheer him up," whispered Twilight. "He's upset, but I don't think he's just upset by being here. There's something else going on."

"Maybe we should try to get him to talk," said Applejack. "Might help him out a little."

Twilight dropped back through the herd to Fluttershy. "Do you think you could try to cheer Sonic up a little? He's looking a little ... off."

Fluttershy nodded. "I wondered about that. I'll try." She sidled up and positioned herself beside Sonic. Neither of them spoke for a while. The herd broke into another canter, and Sonid sped up to keep pace, actually looking up and becoming aware of his surroundings. Twilight swiveled an ear toward them.

"Hi," said Fluttershy very softly. "Um, I was wondering something."

Sonic shrugged. "Ask whatever you want."

"Um, well, I noticed you're kind of turning gray. Is everything all right?"

Sonic looked down at himself and gasped. He grabbed one of his spines and bent it forward so he could see it. "Holy Chaos! What's happening to me?"

"We're not sure," murmured Fluttershy.

Sonic pushed past her, shouldered his way into the herd and fell into step beside Twilight. "Hey, what's with my color? Do I have some kind of pony disease?"

Twilight was taken aback. She hadn't expected Sonic to want to talk to her, but then, he knew her better than the others. "Well, it's something we've seen before, but it's not a disease. It has to do with your mental state. Negative feelings actually affect your appearance."

Sonic looked down at his blue-gray legs. "So, I'm getting all colorless because I'm homesick? That's totally not fair."

"Maybe it's something more than that," said Twilight.

Sonic looked around at all the ponies, all with ears and eyes trained on him. "Oh, sure, like I'm supposed to dump all my emotional baggage in front of a bunch of strangers. No thanks." He dashed back to his spot beside the herd, and this time added a couple of extra feet of space between them.

Twilight winced and her heart hurt. She exchanged looks with her friends, who all looked as crushed as she felt. Especially Fluttershy, who hung her head as if she'd committed a crime.

On Twilight's back, Spike slid up on her withers and grabbed her mane in both paws. "Ow," said Twilight. "What's wrong?"

Spike pointed toward the river with a whimper.

A grove of trees flanked the river at this point, hiding it from view except for a flash of sunlight on water now and then. In the shade under the trees, a dark form was taking shape. Its green eyes stared out at them as its body solidified. It dashed out into the light, teeth bared, and charged them.

"Scatter!" shrieked Twilight.

Ponies fled in every direction, including straight up into the sky. Sonic sprinted away, too, and the dragon halted in confusion, its tail curling behind it like a question mark. Its roving eyes settled on Twilight, with Spike on her back. It grinned like a shark, baring long pointed teeth, and stomped toward her.

Twilight bolted and fled down the road, and the dragon's feet pounded behind her. "What is with these dragons?" she shrieked.

Rainbow Dash plummeted from the sky and hurled a cloud over the dragon's head, blinding it. It skidded to a halt, flinging its head from side to side. Applejack pulled a rope out of a saddlebag, whirled it into a lasso, and caught one of the dragon's hind legs. She jerked it and the dragon fell over with a grunt.

The dragon inhaled and huffed a green fireball, tearing the cloud to wisps of fog. Then it set its three feet and yanked its tied foot, pulling Applejack off her feet. Then it stalked toward Twilight like a cat hunting a bird, eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

Fluttershy flew up beside the dragon, just out of biting range, and said, "Um, excuse me, not meaning to bother you or anything, but why are you trying to eat us?"

"Revenge," said the dragon, and snorted a cloud of black smoke into Fluttershy's face. "I especially want the hedgehog. Give him to me and I'll let you go."

Sonic flashed out of nowhere and smashed into the dragon's side in a ball of spinning spines. The dragon bellowed and crashed to its knees, tail flailing. Sonic bounced off it, regained his feet and raced around it in circles. "You want me? You'll have to catch me first, numbskull!"

The dragon staggered to its feet and bent its head to lick its side, where Sonic had torn a ragged slash in its hide. Then it snarled and swiped at the Sonic-blur. Sonic curled into a ball again and crashed into the foreleg with enough force to snap the bone. The dragon roared. Then it curled in on itself and dissolved into black tendrils of shadow. In two seconds, all that remained of it was a few drops of blood on the ground and Applejack's lasso.

Sonic jogged to a halt, panting, his spines once more a deep, rich blue. "I really don't like fighting living things. Too squishy. Give me a nice crunchy robot any day."

The ponies regrouped, and Applejack coiled up her rope and stashed it in her bag. "Good work, everybody. I really don't like the way these dragons are following us."

Rainbow Dash landed and refused to make eye contact with Sonic. Sonic waved at her. "Hey, good job with the cloud. That was cool."

Rainbow still didn't look at him, but one corner of her mouth curled upward.

"Come on, everybody," said Twilight. "I'm going to teleport us again. I don't like how they're tracking us."


	4. Chapter 4: Ghosts

Another twenty-mile teleport dropped them on a hillside sprinkled with trees. The river carved its way through a ravine to their left, and its roar echoed to them like the ocean in a seashell. The group walked on, tired and nervous.

The sun sank at their backs, casting their long shadows ahead of them over the road. The road itself had faded to a pair of gravel-lined cart tracks. The ponies discussed the fight with the dragon and how they could do it better next time.

Twilight found herself walking beside Sonic again. The longer they walked, the more his blue faded back toward gray. Even though he walked alongside them, he might as well have been in his own private dimension. Under cover of the others' chatter, Twilight said, "Are you okay?"

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know. I don't remember."

"You don't remember what happened just now?"

"No." Sonic scowled. "That's why I'm all gray like this. I can't remember something, and it's making me all depressed. I think that dragon knew it and that's why he was after me. Heck, it might be why they came after me in the first place."

Twilight blinked. "Because of something you don't remember? Or about what Luna said?"

"Luna made it worse," Sonic muttered. "Okay, I just went on this vacation, right? It was totally normal. Nothing weird happened. I remember all that. But I also want to remember something else happening at the same time. Like ... I don't even know. Something bad. But exciting. All I can sort of remember is how I felt, and I was really freaked out. But my proper memories don't leave any time for anything weird. It's like I imagined all this, but I can't even remember what I might have imagined." Sonic shut his eyes and rubbed his muzzle. "This probably sounds totally nutty."

Twilight shook her head, thinking furiously. "It sounds like someone put a memory-wipe spell on you. Do they know how to do that in your world?"

Sonic laughed once. "We don't have magic on Mobius. We have chaos power. It doesn't work in spells, it's more hands-on. As far as I know, there's nothing about modifying memory. Although there's been times I wish there was."

"I wish I could go home and look it up," said Twilight, biting her lower lip. "I know I have a whole book about mind spells. Calling up memories, suppressing them, creating them. It's ethically unsound, though, so I've never actually tried any."

Spike, who had been listening quietly, said, "What if those memories are fake? Like someone put them in your head?"

Sonic rubbed his temples a moment. "That's really disturbing. But I don't have any memories. I have a spot where memories should be. Why would someone put in fake non-memories?"

"Yeah, I guess that doesn't make sense," said the little dragon. "Maybe you know something about these dragons and that's why they're after you."

Sonic's spines bristled a little as his eyes widened. "Maybe I do. That'd explain a lot."

They journeyed on, sometimes walking and sometimes cantering. As the sun slipped below the horizon and the sky faded overhead, the ponies decided to stop for the night. Rarity produced blankets for everyone. Sonic spread his out on the needles under a pine tree, and watched in bemusement as the ponies spread the blankets on their backs, and began grazing.

Sonic curled up on his side and watched as the ponies faded to silhouettes against the starry sky, wandering around and tearing up grass with their teeth. No one spoke much. Spike appeared and whispered, "Hey, mind if I stay here until Twilight's done eating?"

"Sure," said Sonic, scooting over to make room.

The little dragon flopped down next to Sonic with a sigh. He carried an apple fritter in either hand, and offered one to Sonic. Sonic accepted it and took a bite. Lots of tart apple and cinnamon.

Spike nibbled his own fritter. "You know, we have a lot in common."

"How's that?"

"We're both outsiders. And we could be a threat." Spike's eyes were sad.

Sonic chewed for a moment. "I know a couple of people who've gone through some crazy stuff lately. One guy was just a nice guy until all kinds of stuff happened to him and now he's all bitter and mean. He goes around causing problems. Another guy was a straight-up killer, and he was good at it. But he decided killing wasn't his thing and tries to help people now."

Spike gazed at Sonic. "And your point is?"

Sonic shrugged. "Who cares what kind of dragon you are? Use your powers for good, not evil. When you're big, think how much butt you'll kick."

Slowly a smile spread across Spike's face. "That's a good point."

One of the pony silhouettes moved up to them, and turned into Twilight. "Hi boys," she said. "Spike, you ready to sleep?"

"Yep." Spike crammed the last of his fritter in his mouth, climbed up on Twilight's back, and they walked off a short distance to the shelter of another low-branched pine.

Sonic curled up and sleep claimed him.

He awoke hours later. The sky glittered with stars, and the sky between them was deep, rich violet. Crickets sang all around. Sonic lay rolled in his blanket, gazing at the horizon and wondering why he'd awakened.

Then the ghost walked across the meadow.

It was a strange pony, possibly once red, but its color was washed out and ghostly. Sonic could see the horizon line through its body. It glowed faintly, like a reflection of moonlight. It wore a pack on its back, and walked along as if it made this journey every night.

Sonic lay stiff, spines bristling through the blanket's fabric, heart racing. He moved nothing but his eyes, tracking the pony's progress until it vanished behind a stand of trees.

Then he threw off the blanket and dashed to Twilight's sleeping place. She was a pale shape under the pine, lying down with her head on her crossed forelegs. "Twilight!" Sonic whispered, shaking her. "I just saw a ghost!"

Twilight lifted her head, blinking sleepily. "You saw what?"

"A ghost?" said Spike, poking his head out from under the blanket at her side. "A real one?"

Sonic pointed. "It was all silvery and see-through, and it just walked across the meadow and went that way!"

Twilight gazed across the meadow. "And you're sure it wasn't a dream."

"Positive! I was awake for a few minutes before it showed up. A ghostly pony with stuff on its back."

Twilight groaned and heaved herself to her feet, shaking off her blanket. "All right, let's go look around."

Twilight, Spike and Sonic walked out into the meadow, Sonic's head whipping back and forth and dancing on the balls of his feet as if ready to run for his life. Twilight plodded along, head drooping as if ready to fall asleep on her feet. Spike followed behind them, paws clasped nervously.

They rounded the edge of the trees, and Sonic pointed. "Look!"

Twilight's head jerked up and her eyes widened.

Three ghost-ponies trotted along the road, following the river's curve. All of them were transparent and carried packs on their backs. None of them paid any attention to the pony, hedgehog and dragon watching them.

Spike attached himself to Twilight's foreleg. "Ghosts! Run! Run!"

"Not yet," whispered Twilight. "They might be some kind of illusion spell."

Sonic gaped at her. "Who'd make an illusion of ghost ponies way out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Twilight shot him a sidelong look. "Shadow dragons."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Point."

Twilight paced toward the road, dragging Spike, who refused to release her leg. Light sparkled from her horn.

A new ghost cantered up the road toward them, eyes fixed on its destination. Twilight focused on it, then as it drew opposite with them, flashed a beam of light into the ghost's face.

The ghost gasped and whirled about, staring. She was a filly with a very small backpack, and a curly mane. She stared at Twilight, Spike and Sonic for a full second, then shrieked in a distant echo of a voice, "Ghosts! Mama! Mama! Ghosts!" She fled in a flat-out gallop and vanished over the crest of the hill.

Twilight let her spell fade. "Interesting. She thought we were the ghosts."

"Don't they always?" said Sonic, eyes almost as round as Spike's. "There must have been a big battle, or a disaster, and a bunch of ponies died, and now they wander the road every night-"

"Oh shut up!" exclaimed Twilight. "There was something weird about her. My spell reacted as if she was a physical object."

"So she was a half-ghost?" said Spike, teeth beginning to chatter with fright and the cool night.

"A half-ghost," murmured Twilight. "Maybe." She turned and trotted back across the meadow.

Sonic hurried after her. "Don't tell me you expect us to go back to sleep now!"

"No," said Twilight. "I'm going to wake the others. We're going to follow the ghosts."

* * *

><p>Six sleepy ponies, a terrified baby dragon, and a jumpy hedgehog picked their way down the road on the trail of the ghost ponies. Over the crest of the hill the road wound its way up the side of a small mountain, making for a pass between two peaks. Even from that distance, a string of ghost ponies were visible as little points of light, toiling up the hill.<p>

"If they're all ghosts," said Rainbow Dash, "why don't they just float?"

"I don't think they're ghosts," said Twilight.

"What are they, then?" said Pinkie. "They're sure not Crystal Ponies!"

"I don't know," said Twilight. "Come on. I'll raise light when the road gets rough."

They climbed the slope, turning at each switchback. They overtook a ghost pony, which carried an enormous pack on its back and walked with its head down, panting. It never looked at them. They all stepped around with with little shivers, and hurried on.

The night was growing old by the time they reached the pass and began their descent. Up ahead, the land seemed to be scored with a deep blackness, but they couldn't tell what it was by starlight. "Probably the river," said Applejack. "We've been followin' it this whole way."

They passed more ghost ponies, and stopped for breath on a curve of the road high up the mountain's shoulder. The ghosts were all headed into the river's darkness, where they vanished.

"This is creeping me out," said Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy stood to one side, trembling so hard she could barely stand up. Pinkie stepped up to her and put a comforting foreleg around Fluttershy's neck. "They're just ghosts," said Pinkie. "Don't even know what a party they're missing."

Sonic poked Twilight's shoulder. "Not ghosts, huh?"

"Well, we need to check out the place where they vanish," said Twilight. "Maybe there's a bridge or trees or something."

Sonic nodded. "Or maybe they're vanishing back into ghostland."

They descended the hill, guided by Twilight's light at the end of her horn. Rarity lit hers, as well, and by their combined lights they picked their way among fallen rocks and through tall grass that threatened to obscure the road entirely.

Dawn leaked into the sky, first gray, then pink. As the light broadened, the group saw that the darkness they'd mistaken for the river was actually a wide, jagged canyon. From this angle they couldn't even see the bottom. The dawn light washed out the ghosts until they completely vanished.

Weary and heavy-eyed, the ponies and Sonic finally reached the canyon's edge and looked over.

The river still wound through the bottom in a green ribbon. But the walls of the canyon were carved into a fantastic city. Arches and galleries, balconies, rows and rows of windows, and long, narrow roads following the contour of the cliffs.

"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Rarity. "Why haven't we ever heard of this place?"

"This is Deep Covert," said Twilight. "The city where Exalta reigned, long, long ago."

"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, elbowing Sonic. "And those ghosts are all there, going around doing normal stuff, never realizing that they're actually dead. And if we go down there, we'll be surrounded by ghosts-"

Fluttershy whimpered and collapsed on her side in a faint.

"Oh, good job, Rainbow," said Applejack as they gathered around Fluttershy. "Now you help me carry her."

They lugged Fluttershy away from the canyon's edge. Across the road and further on were groves of apple and cherry trees planted in neat rows, and a long verge of green grass. They laid Fluttershy on this, and some of the ponies snatched a few mouthfuls.

"Who planted these trees, do you think?" said Applejack, walking into the orchard a little way.

"The ghosts!" said Rainbow. "I think that's going to be my answer for every question from now on."

Rarity walked into the shade and folded her legs, lying down. "I'm going to take a quick nap, if you don't mind. I've had my beauty sleep interrupted."

"I think we could all use some rest," said Twilight, rubbing her eyes. Spike was asleep on her back, limbs drooping on either side of her spine.

So the ponies settled themselves in the orchard and slept for several hours. Sonic did, too, after covertly eating an apple and several cherries. Fluttershy recovered from her faint, saw they were all napping, and hurried to lie down close to the others.

* * *

><p>The sun had climbed just past noon when Sonic awoke. Spike stood beside him, poking him with one paw.<p>

"What?" said Sonic.

Spike pressed a finger to his lips. "Come on."

Sonic got up, dusted grass off his fur, and followed Spike on tip-toe away from the sleeping ponies. Spike led Sonic through the orchard, and Sonic snagged a couple of apples on the way.

On the far side of the orchard the land fell away in three broad terraces, buttressed by stone retaining walls. Each terrace was planted with a different variety of fruit trees, and domed white beehives stood in an orderly row along the center wall.

"Nice view," said Sonic, crunching apple. He offered one to Spike.

Spike shook his head. "How can you think of your stomach at a time like this? Look at the bottom terrace!"

Sonic scanned the bottom terrace, which from this height was a mass of green leaves in vague rows. "Kid, my stomach is my fuel tank. Gotta keep it full or there goes my supersonic metabolism." A breeze ruffled the top of the orchard and fanned Sonic's face. "What are we looking at, again?"

Spike shot him a glare and pointed.

The trees shivered on the bottom terrace, and a shadow dragon stepped onto the path bordering the trees. It was elephant-sized with plum-colored scales and a vibrant green dorsal crest. Like Spike, it lacked wings, but a handsome pair of green filaments sprang from its shoulders, like proto-wings turned to banners.

Sonic and Spike dropped flat. "That's a fancy one," Sonic whispered. "Maybe it's the boss one."

The dragon's head turned toward them, green eyes scanning, nostrils flaring. Sonic and Spike ducked even lower, peering through a tuft of grass. After a moment, the dragon lowered its head and walked on. It wore a harness around its torso with an enormous basket tied on either side of it. These were half-full of ripe peaches.

Sonic glanced at his baby dragon companion. "So ... the dragons are stealing fruit now?"

"Shh!"

The dragon's head jerked around, the filaments on its back standing straight up. Then it whirled and leaped up the terrace walls toward them, like a cat bounding up stairs.

Sonic leaped up, grabbed Spike, and fled back to the ponies like a bolt of blue lightning. "Dragon! Dragon coming!"

The ponies leaped to their feet with gasps and cries of fright. Sonic ran to Twilight and pointed. "Spike spotted him! He's coming! He's a big one, too!"

Twilight bared her teeth and her horn flickered with red light.

The dragon arrived over the edge of the top terrace, ducked its head and crawled under the orchard canopy, like an enormous train clawing its way through a narrow tunnel. Its eyes fixed on Twilight, Sonic and Spike.

"Run, girls!" Twilight commanded.

Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie raced away a few dozen strides, then turned around, unwilling to leave their friend. Rainbow Dash flew straight up and snagged a stray cloud, ready to blind the dragon with it. Applejack backed away, pulling rope out of her saddlebag.

The dragon emerged from the orchard and reared above them, its green eyes narrowed to slits. The baskets hanging from its sides didn't fit its evil look. "Get back!" Twilight shrieked, and fired a blast of red magic at the dragon's face.

At the same time the dragon breathed a green fireball that engulfed Sonic, Twilight and Spike.

Twilight's spell struck the dragon, and it collapsed on its belly in a senseless heap, smoke trailing from its nostrils.

Where Twilight, Sonic and Spike had been, there was now only a blackened spot on the grass.

Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy all screamed. Applejack galloped up to the burned spot and stared at it, then poked it with a hoof. "I cain't believe it! Burned them right to ashes!" She turned on the sleeping dragon with her teeth bared. "You're going to answer for that, you beast!"

Rainbow Dash dropped from the sky, flanks heaving with emotion. "Want me to tenderize him while he's down?"

"No," said Applejack, tossing Rainbow the end of her rope. "Tie him up. We're going to interrogate this one."

* * *

><p>To Sonic, the flame had washed over them for a second, leaving everything dark. He stood still, feet braced, hands still gripping Spike around the middle, waiting for something else to happen. "Uh, where'd the dragon go?"<p>

Twilight panted beside him in the darkness, and light flickered into being at the top of her horn. They stood inside a room with stone walls, a stone floor, and a stone ceiling. Or maybe it was a cave that had been carved into a room. It was hard to tell. A tunnel led out to the left.

Spike laughed and clapped his paws. "He's a magic breather, just like me! He used a transport breath on us, just like when I send a letter to Princess Celestia!"

Sonic set Spike on the floor. Spike ran to Twilight and patted her foreleg. "We're okay! He just moved us somewhere."

"Yes," said Twilight, stepping up to the wall, and examining an engraving by her light. It depicted a rearing alicorn, its wings spread. "I think we're inside the Deep Covert somewhere."

"Oh boy," said Sonic, crossing his arms. "All we have to do is ask the nearest ghost for directions."

"If it comes to that," said Twilight. "Come on." She led the way down the tunnel, with Sonic and Spike following.


	5. Chapter 5: The Sacred Bastion

Within ten minutes, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had the marauding dragon's limbs lashed to four different trees. More ropes encircled its neck, keeping its head from moving. Its eyes flickered but didn't open. Twilight's stun spell had been a strong one.

The ponies gathered to one side, out of range of another fireball. "When he wakes up," said Applejack, "let Fluttershy do the talking. She has a way with critters."

Fluttershy backed up a few paces and turned her head. "But I don't like dragons."

"Girl," said Applejack, "this dragon just vaporized three of our friends. You have to ask him what he did and if we can get them back. If not ..." Applejack pounded one hoof on a fallen apple until it split into pieces.

The dragon grunted, and the ponies spun about with gasps. His green eyes flickered open and powerful muscles rolled under purple scales. He found he was tied, and threw himself from side to side, rocking the tied trees. Applejack grabbed one of the ropes around his neck and yanked it. The dragon's breath wheezed in his throat, and he lay still. Applejack let the rope go slack.

The dragon's nearest eye focused on her and the other ponies. "Who are you people?" he gasped.

The other ponies nudged Fluttershy forward. She edged up to the dragon, trembling and wings half-open, ready to flee if things went south. "Um, um, sorry about this," she murmured. "But you burned up our friends. We had to do something."

"I didn't burn them up," growled the dragon, struggling again. "If you've made me squash any of these peaches, you're paying for every last one of them."

The ponies exchanged glances. That didn't sound like one of the shadow dragons. Fluttershy said, "We've been having problems with shadow dragons. You look like one of them, so we thought-"

The dragon stopped struggling, but the spines on its back and its proto-wings bristled. "Shadow dragons? How dare you! I'm a border guard, for your information!"

The other ponies inched closer. "So," said Applejack, "if you didn't burn our friends, where are they?"

"They had one of our young with them," said the dragon through its teeth. "I sent them to the Broodmother."

"That sounds totally safe," said Rainbow. "Not!"

"I live and work here, at Deep Covert," said the dragon. "I tend these orchards. I swear I won't hurt you and I didn't hurt your friends. Let me go and I'll take you to them. Deal?"

Applejack walked in front of the dragon and leaned into its face, orange eyes ablaze. "You'd better."

The dragon cringed backward and whimpered.

* * *

><p>The tunnel ran on, straight as a hallway, for a hundred paces. Then it opened out into a red-lit room with a high ceiling. Twilight, Sonic and Spike froze in the doorway and peered out.<p>

Fifteen ghostly ponies sat in a semicircle around an enormous purple dragon, wingless, like Spike. But from her size and the bare patches of skin on her nose and muzzle, she was a very old dragon. Like the ponies, she, too, was ghostly. She read from a book spread in front of her, and gripped a magnifying glass in one gnarled claw, which she used to read the text.

They'd arrived at the end of a lesson, because the dragoness said, "And that concludes your lesson for today, foals. Oral reports on Monday."

The ghostly ponies got up and trotted out another passage. The ancient dragon closed the book, then squinted at Twilight, Sonic and Spike. "Come in, come in. I can barely see you."

Twilight looked at her friends. "I think she's probably safe."

Sonic shrugged. "I know you think that having a book instantly signifies peace and goodwill, but this is a dragon!"

Spike took the direct approach. "Hi! You won't hurt us, will you?"

"Of course not," said the dragoness. She beckoned with one claw. "Come closer, dears."

Spike led the way, followed by Twilight, then Sonic. They stood in a row before the ghostly dragoness. Her scales were missing in patches, and many of the spines on her back were missing. She examined each of them through the magnifying glass. "Excuse me for not phasing, but it's such an effort these days. What brings you here?"

The three looked at each other. "It's kind of a long story," said Twilight.

The dragoness shifted positions a little. "Oh good. I do love long stories."

Twilight drew a deep breath, and launched into the problem with Sonic crossing the world barrier, vicious shadow dragons, and the plan to fix the border spells with the Elements of Harmony.

The dragoness listened with her head on one side, as if one ear worked better than the other. When Twilight finished, the dragoness said, "My, what a tale." She leaned forward and nudged Spike with her transparent snout, which was solid enough to make Spike stagger sideways. "You're a healthy young one. Raised by the top ponies, are you? One day you'll make your old granny proud."

Spike's chest swelled.

The dragoness sniffed Sonic, ruffling his spines. "She's right, you are from another world. Sending you back will be tricky."

Then the dragoness fixed her attention on Twilight. "Shadow dragons are from the world of Equus. They desperately want to return. But so many of our race failed in their task to guard the borders, Matron Exalta had to do something. She exiled the unfaithful and preserved a remnant on this side. We are border guards, and although we are few, we are powerful." For a moment the dragoness's faded green eyes flashed with pride.

Twilight looked at Spike. "See! Not all your people are evil!"

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," said Spike.

"Celestia was right to send you with the Elements," said the dragoness, her smelly breath blowing Twilight's mane about. "Celestia herself is not as powerful as they. You'll have to use them at the Sacred Bastion, where Exalta laid the spells in the first place."

"Where is that?" said Twilight.

The dragoness looked over her shoulder, where an enormous bookcase held a library's worth of books. She selected one, pulled it out, and opened it before them. "Here is a map of the Deep Covert. At the midpoint, five miles from here, there lies a circle of standing stones, each carved from a different color of precious stone. Stand in the center and work your magic."

"Thank you!" said Twilight. "Also, if you don't mind, could I come back someday and read some of your books?"

"Yes, of course!" said the dragoness, smiling and revealing a mostly toothless mouth. "Just ask for Mother Lizzy." She gestured to the other tunnel. "That's the way out. Keep to the main passage and you'll soon reach open air."

"Thank you!" said Twilight again, and the three of them hurried out.

* * *

><p>The captive dragon led the other ponies down one of the winding paths into the Deep Covert, his fruit baskets scraping the rock walls. He paused on one balcony to unhitch them from his harness, and growled at Applejack. "There's no reason for this noose around my neck."<p>

"When we find our friends, I'll take it off," said Applejack. "Every other dragon we've met lately has tried to eat us, and I doubt you're the exception."

"Really, I am," said the dragon. He pointed a claw down a tunnel framed by an elaborately carved arch. "Go down that hallway and turn right. It'll take you straight to the Broodmother."

"And how do I know this isn't a trap?" said Applejack.

At that moment, Twilight, Sonic and Spike emerged from the doorway, and stood blinking in the daylight. Applejack dropped the end of the rope, ran to Twilight and hugged her. So did the other ponies, gathering around them with glad cries.

Sonic sidled away from the crowd and looked at the dragon, who looked at him in bemusement, the rope still dangling from his neck.

"I hear you're one of the good guys," said Sonic.

"You flatter me," said the dragon. "When the Broodmother finds how many of these peaches I've damaged, she'll probably throw me in the river."

Sonic reached up and unwound the rope, then slid it off the dragon's neck. The dragon coughed. "Thanks."

"No prob," said Sonic. "Turns out we need to visit some place called the Sacred Bastion."

"Oh yeah, that place," said the dragon. "It's not far. I'd offer to give you a lift via transport breath, but that orange pony has it in for me."

Sonic squinted at the dragon. "How come you're not all ghostly?"

"I'm not phased," said the dragon. "Most of the city exists under heavy phasing for protection. I'm Shimmerscale, by the way."

"I'm Sonic," said the hedgehog. "I'm from this other world called Mobius and I really need to get back."

Shimmerscale dipped his head. "Repairing the border spells will be tricky enough without sending you home, too." He snorted and dragged the tips of his claws over the cobblestones. "Actually, it might kill you."

Sonic shrugged, but his spines drooped.

Twilight broke free of her friends and approached Shimmerscale. "My apologies for the way you've been treated. We've had ghost dragons after us for days and we're kind of jumpy."

"No hard feelings," said Shimmerscale. He lowered his head and bumped Spike with his nose. "It's been years since I've seen a baby dragon your age. How're the ponies treating you?"

Spike glared defiantly up at Shimmerscale. "Like family."

Shimmerscale bared his teeth in a grin. "Good."

Twilight bent her forelegs and let Spike scramble up on her back. "Would you be so kind as to lead us to the Sacred Bastion?"

"Sure," said Shimmerscale. "As soon as I drop off these peaches."

* * *

><p>The Sacred Bastion was a disc of blue crystal a hundred feet across. It was embedded in the ground at the cliff's edge, so one end of the crystal was suspended over empty space.<p>

The crystal's face was etched with swirling decorative carvings and magic runes. Greens and indigos swirled through the crystal's heart. When Sonic and the ponies stepped on it, flecks of light trailed through it like captive fireflies.

Twilight lowered her head and sniffed the crystal, then tapped it with a hoof. "Incredible! This crystal is full of stored magic! It must have been soaking it up for millennia!"

"Oh, so it's a giant battery," said Sonic.

The ponies looked at him. "What's a battery?" said Twilight.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Pretty much the same thing, only smaller."

Shimmerscale halted at the edge of the disk and watched the ponies. "It responds to the nearness of the Elements of Harmony. Good. Stand in the center and ask it to show you the border spells. But wait ten minutes." He turned and trotted off.

"Why ten minutes?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I want to get started now!"

Twilight studied the crystal beneath them, then gazed after the retreating dragon. "Girls, I think there's going to be a battle."

"Yeah," said Sonic. "And I'll probably die."

The ponies stared at him. Applejack stepped forward. "Who told you that?"

Sonic jerked a thumb in Shimmerscale's direction. "He did. Something about repairing the border spells and sending me home at the same time."

Twilight swished her tail and glanced at Spike on her back. "Maybe this will be a little more complicated than I thought." She opened her saddlebags and pulled out the Elements of Harmony. "Huddle up, girls. We need to be ready."

Sonic folded his arms and watched them pass out necklaces set with glowing gems. Man, if only he'd brought along a chaos emerald. But maybe Equestria wouldn't respond well to chaos power. He glanced down at himself. Blue, not gray. If he wallowed in darkness, it'd take him over, and he couldn't afford to let that happen.

If only he could remember what he'd forgotten.

Twilight approached Sonic, now wearing a tiara with a magenta stone in it. She nosed toward his ear and whispered, "Are you all right?"

Sonic nodded. "Just dandy." And he was. Inside he felt calm and collected, like getting ready to face down one more of Robotnik's bots. Or going head to head with Metal Sonic, knowing how badly the robot wished to disembowel him.

Or facing down a white hedgehog with a shock of spines on his forehead as the hedgehog lifted him off his feet with some sort of focused chaos power.

Sonic raised a hand to his forehead, eyes widening.

"What?" Twilight whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I remembered something," Sonic murmured. "I was in this fight..." He strained to remember something else. Tables with umbrellas. Sally and Tails watching. The feeling of being helpless and terrified, not understanding why he was being attacked ...

"There's more dragons over there," said Rarity, pointing.

Everyone turned. More purple dragons emerged from the distant trees, or stepped out of hidden doorways from the cliff city below. Some of them wore polished golden helmets, and scaled golden mail across their wingless backs. The ones without armor were each ringed by sparkling stars that swirled around them like orbiting planets. Sonic counted heads. Nineteen. He elbowed Twilight's neck. "How many shadow dragons do you think there are?"

Twilight surveyed the friendly forces. "More than that. Is that all?"

Spike jumped off her back and threw out his chest. "Me! I'm the twentieth!"

Twilight gazed down at him, and her eyes suddenly glazed with tears. She nudged him closer to her. "You're also not at full strength yet. Stay close."

Spike leaned against her and smiled up at her. Sonic had to look away, embarrassed at the unguarded tenderness.

Shimmerscale walked toward the Bastion, sparkling magic circling him. "Start the spells!"

The ponies and Sonic spread out to stand around the crystal disc's perimeter. Twilight and Spike moved to the center, Twilight looking regal and determined in her Magic element. She lowered her head and touched the crystal with her horn. "Sacred Bastion, show us the border spells."

The glints of light in the crystal beneath them flashed and swirled until the entire crystal glowed blue, like the sun on a clear lagoon. The six Elements of Harmony flashed in response, and Twilight's eyes glowed and sparkled.

The world around them turned pale and ghostly. Sonic peered around, blinking. Were those draperies all over everything,? Tall curving pillar-things. Or were they towers? Or some kind of rippling wall? Whatever it was, it stretched along the canyon, reaching up into the sky as far as the eye could see. And there were immense cracks and holes in it.

Blackness swirled through the holes and shaped itself into shadow dragons. Hundreds of them. They oozed forth and stalked toward the border guards, teeth bared, green flame licking from their jaws.  
>The border guard dragons took up defensive positions around the Bastion, but they seemed like a frail fence trying to hold back a dark tide.<p>

For a second neither side moved. Then the border dragons and the shadow dragons charged, clashing in a violent crackle and flash of magic spells, flames, and flashing teeth.

"Quick, girls!" Twilight yelled. "Send me your power!"

The ponies shut their eyes and concentrated. Beams of colored light shot out of their necklaces, converging on Twilight's tiara. Twilight funneled the power into her horn, and swept it into the nearest cracked border spell, looking like the beam from a lighthouse. Everywhere the beam touched, the cracks fused over. "It's working! Keep it up, girls!"

Sonic raced around the inside of the Sacred Bastion's barrier, watching the fighting outside. If only he could help! There was nothing worse than being helpless when his friends were in danger.

Suddenly there was a puff of smoke inside the Bastion's barrier, and a strange creature appeared. He seemed to be cobbled together out of multiple creatures-his long, thin, seven-foot height seemed to be a snake, but with fur, a goat's head, and mismatched legs of various colors.

Spike rushed to Sonic's side. "Don't talk to him! He's a troll!"

Sonic blinked. "Looks more like a chimera to me."

The creature stooped in an exaggerated bow. "And you would be right! Allow me to introduce myself-I am Discord, the god of chaos." His voice was cultured and stately, yet he glanced at Sonic with a sly, mischievous intelligence.

Sonic backed away. "Nobody's supposed to get in here! Are you from Outside?"

"Oh no." Discord vanished and reappeared, floating in midair over Twilight's head, where he waved a hand in front of her glowing eyes. She bared her teeth and said nothing. "I'm a native to Equestria, just like my beloved pony friends." He darted between the ponies, tweaking ears and pulling tails. The ponies yelped or shrieked, and their power dimmed as their focus wavered.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled, aghast. "What are you doing?"

"Hay is for horses," Discord chortled. "What about hedgehogs? Do they like hay?" He snapped his fingers. A bale of hay appeared in front of Sonic with a knife and fork stuck in it.

Beyond the Sacred Bastion's barrier, the cracks widened in the world's protection spells. More dragons swirled through. The good dragons battled with claws, fire, and flinging magic all over-their magic seemed to echo the colors of the Elements of Harmony. But many shadow dragons had abandoned the fight and were attacking the protection spell itself, tearing new holes and widening cracks.

Twilight aimed her magic beam at them, and blasted them away like a fire hose trained on a swarm of roaches. Discord danced beside her, clad in a colorful poncho and sombrero, shaking maracas.

"Stop it with the distractions!" Sonic's blood pressure was rising with his rage. He grabbed Discord's eagle-like arm and dragged him away from the ponies.

Discord was made of chaos power. It poured into Sonic's body and activated his missing aura, made his blue spines flicker gold and his green eyes shade toward orange.

Sonic released Discord's arm as if he'd been burned. "What in the - do you have a chaos emerald?" He'd only ever felt such power in the presence of all seven gems.

Discord stared at him with disconcerting interest. "Well well! Most fascinating. What sort of creature are you, to use my power?" He stooped and gazed into Sonic's eyes. "Not a pony, certainly. And you accuse me of being from Outside."

"I'm from Mobius, and I'm trying to get home," Sonic snarled. "You leave the ponies alone! Get lost!"

Discord clicked his tongue. "Tsk tsk. Strong words from an alien. I see that there's something wrong with you." He placed his lion-like paw on Sonic's head. "What could it be? Oh yes. I believe you've forgotten that you died."

The Elements of Harmony, ponies, battling dragons, and collapsing world barrier, all faded from Sonic's mind. There was nothing but himself and Discord, and their mutual chaos powers. "I-I died?"

"Goodness, yes," said Discord. "Don't you remember?"

Suddenly an immense force struck Sonic from behind. His legs gave way, but still he hung there, impaled on a paper-thin spike - then it vanished, and he fell on his face.

"My my," Discord said in his ear. "This Mephiles fellow had style."

Sonic lay there, bleeding and dying, yet he also stood in the Sacred Bastion, forced to relive the hideous moment in every clear, agonizing second.

Discord chuckled deep in his throat, as if delighted with Sonic's torment. "This memory block is very strong. They were trying to protect you, whoever it was." He released Sonic's head.

Sonic fell to all fours, gasping, clutching his chest. The pain echoed through his body, and the memory fragment stuck in his mind like a glass splinter. He lost track of the ponies, and the battle, and even Discord - there was only his dreadful, painful memory: he had died.

In the distance, the shadow dragons kept attacking the world barrier, and had begun pulling open another hole. Twilight was trying to repair so many areas at once, she left many more with cracks, and the shadow dragons kept ahead of her. "This isn't working!" she cried.

Rarity stepped forward and tossed her styled purple mane out of her eyes. "Darling, you're doing too much at once. Think of it as a dress you're trying to sew - start with the pattern and the fabric. Don't start with the embroidery."

Sweat soaked Twilight's neck and flanks. Sparks popped from her horn. "I don't get it, Rarity!"

Spike laid a paw on Rarity and Twilight's forelegs. "Make it about books!"

"Oh." Rarity thought for a second. "You wouldn't write a research paper without an outline, would you?"

"Granted," Twilight panted. "But how to make an outline of this?"

Discord appeared between them, holding an umbrella over his head. "Make it rain, dear Twilight. Don't you know how rainbows are formed?"

"A prism!" Twilight stopped the spell. The glow left her eyes, and the beam disappeared from her horn. "Spike, my weather experiment! Did you pack the crystals?"

Spike ran to the saddlebags piled at the edge of the Bastion, and produced five long red crystals. Twilight levitated them out of his hands, then gazed around at her friends. "I need some way to hold these in the air. But I need all of you."

The ponies looked uncertainly at their Element necklaces. Sonic remained a huddled heap of blue spines, staring at nothing. Twilight took a step toward him in concern, then shook herself. No, there wasn't time to comfort him. "I could try a levitation spell-"

Discord swiped the crystals. "Allow me."

The ponies gazed at him in hopeful distrust. "Really?" Twilight said. "You'll help us?"

"Sure! I'm not completely heartless." Discord flew far overhead until he was almost out of sight. Then his voice echoed down, "Wait. Yes I am."

The five crystals fell from the sky, hit the Bastion's floor, and shattered.

"Discord!" Twilight shrieked, rising on two legs and pawing the air in helpless rage.

The chimera floated down to them in a reclining position, hands behind his head. "I may not be from Outside, but I have friends there. And a little more chaos is just the thing to liven up Equestria."

"This is sabotage!" yelled Rainbow Dash, stamping her hooves.

Discord tipped a top hat that appeared on his head for the purpose. "I'm happy you finally caught on."


	6. Chapter 6: The Shadow King

Beyond the Sacred Bastion, the nineteen guardian dragons fell back before the onslaught of the shadow dragons. There were heavy wounds on both sides, but the guardians bled worse. Shimmerscale limped to the Bastion, supporting a fellow dragon whose neck and foreleg were a mass of wounds. "Please, use the Elements again! We can't fight without them!"

Twilight's heart tugged her in so many directions - they were losing the battle, yet she couldn't spread the spell any wider. Even summoning a storm wouldn't help - rain was too sporadic to refract the beam reliably.

Sonic still sat there, motionless. His blue fur had turned the color of granite.

By ignoring him, she had ignored the very heart of the Elements of Harmony - friendship.

Twilight hurried to Sonic and nuzzled his cheek. "Sonic? What's wrong?"

He automatically raised a hand to brush her away, as if she were an annoying fly. His eyes remained fixed on the horizon, blank and unfocused, as if he had drawn deeply into himself.

"Sonic!" She lowered her head and jabbed him in the ribs with her horn.

"Ow!" Sonic cringed away. His eyes focused again, and he glared at her accusingly. "What are you, a rhinoceros?"

"Sonic, you're gray. What happened?"

"Oh." He crawled to his feet, and leaned against her withers to support himself. "Discord made me remember stuff. Like how I died."

"You died?" Twilight stared. "But you're alive now!"

Sonic touched his chest. There were two faded scars there, and the fur grew a little crooked over them. One scar was a thin line, like a knife cut, while the other was a round spot, as if he'd been struck by a projectile. He gazed at Twilight with gray eyes. "It hurt so much. But I can't remember what else happened. Why I didn't ... you know ... Stay dead."

Twilight curved her neck over his shoulder in a pony hug. "Sonic, whatever happened, it turned out all right. So what if you don't remember? It just means somebody healed you, and maybe it erased your memory to remove mental pain. I don't know. The point is, you're alive now. And we need you."

As she lifted her head, the star on her tiara brushed his spines. It left a streak of vibrant blue amidst the gray. Twilight stared, and her eyes widened. "Hey girls! Huddle!"

The other ponies trotted up. So did Discord, having turned himself into an ugly goat-headed pony first.

"We can help Sonic with the Elements," said Twilight, gazing at them all. "Right now, Sonic needs our friendship."

Discord smirked, but Twilight ignored him. Sonic, however, held Discord's eyes and didn't look away.

The ponies closed their eyes and their Elements began to glow.

Warmth flowed through Sonic, as if they'd wrapped him in a warm, friendly blanket. Oddly enough, his eyes burned. These ponies didn't even know him, but they were willing to hand him their friendship, just because he needed it. The generosity staggered him.

All except Discord, who sidled backward, as if preparing some new prank.

"No you don't!" Sonic grabbed Discord by one leg - which instantly became a lion's paw - and dragged him into the middle of the circle.

The Elements brightened like spotlights. Discord coiled and writhed as if it burned him, but more comforting, loyal power flowed into Sonic. His gray spines flushed with healthy blue.

Then he focused on Discord.

It was like staring into the depths of the Master Emerald. Here lay all chaos, yet completely controlled. Discord did exactly as he liked and his power never overcame him - but inside, he was a crazed fractal mess. No wonder he caused chaos - it was the substance of his being.

Sonic grabbed that power and yanked.

Discord howled. His power poured into Sonic in a tidal wave of pure chaos energy, as if Sonic had drawn straight from the Master Emerald. His blue flashed into yellow, and his spines stood up as his Super transformation took over.

The ponies gasped or screamed. Discord went limp, panting, but Sonic kept ahold of him. "It's okay!" Sonic addressed them all. "I'm Super Sonic, as long as Discord helps. You cool with that, Discord?" His tone implied that it had better be.

Discord gave him a sulky look, and propped his chin on his other hand. "Fine, you want my power, take it. A lot of good it'll do you - the king is nearly through."

"What king?" Sonic turned.

While the ponies and hedgehog had been dealing with other matters, outside the Sacred Bastion, the battle had gone poorly indeed. The remaining guardian dragons had taken refuge behind the Bastion with their dead and wounded, and the shadow dragons had left them alone entirely. Instead, the whole army had attacked the strange, pillar-curtain of world barrier spells, and had torn a hole hundreds of feet across.

Through the hole protruded the head and shoulders of a dragon the size of Celestia's castle. It thrashed back and forth, and tore at the barrier with teeth the length of a pony's whole body. It was a deep violet, and Sonic was reminded of Luna - as if the dragon had lived Outside for so long that it had absorbed the night sky into its scales.

"The Shadow King!" Twilight shrieked. "But I thought he was only a myth! He'll eat the world if he breaks through!"

But Spike stood at the Bastion's edge, staring and staring as if his eyes would pop out.

Sonic flew into the air like a golden comet, dragging Discord. "Shoot your Harmony beam at me! I can scatter it with chaos power!"

"But - Harmony and chaos-" Twilight tossed her head in agitation. "It might hurt you!"

Sonic pointed at the giant dragon in the distance. "We have to do something! Besides, I did this once with the eighth chaos emerald. Your power's nowhere near that bad."

Twilight winced, but she and her friends nodded at each other, and again called on the power of the Elements. The glow spilled from her eyes and horn, and she directed it at Sonic overhead.

The powerful beam struck him, and for an instant he flashed all the colors of the rainbow. Then light exploded from him in all directions. The shockwave repaired the world barrier spells everywhere it touched. Shadow dragons tumbled before it like leaves. The king dragon flinched, but he remained halfway through the barrier, and it could not be repaired around him.

"Sonic," said Discord.

Sonic ignored him. Inside him, chaos warred with harmony. Was he Sonic, or was he a discordant beast meant for destruction? No! He was Sonic, defender of the weak, hero of justice! Unless he was also a chaos monster. His thoughts spiraled away into the gulf.

"Sonic," said Discord. "I'd thank you to not drip blood on me."

Sonic looked down. Discord held up an umbrella, which was spattered with bright red. Sonic touched his face. His nose was gushing, but the invincibility kept him from feeling it.

Discord shot him a sarcastic grin. "Chaos and harmony don't mix, silly hedgehog. Keep it up and you'll die."

Sonic let go of Discord, who disappeared, and plummeted to the Bastion's crystal floor, where he lay in a heap. The yellow dimmed from his spines, leaving them a faded blue. As Twilight stooped over him in concern, Sonic whispered, "Sorry. I tried."

In the distance, the Shadow King roared, and clawed the rest of the way through the barrier. He was so immense that he simply stepped over the canyon. He reached the Bastion in three mile-long strides. His power rolled before him like a tidal wave, making the ponies' manes wave like flags in a high wind. The Elements flickered and went out.

Spike remained at the Bastion's edge, but tears trickled down his cheeks.

"So," said the Shadow King. His voice was deceptively soft, yet overwhelming. It drove other thoughts out of the listener's head, leaving nothing but fear and the desire to obey. "Here stand my opponents, equipped with Celestia's shattered power. You may have harmony, but mere friendship cannot stand before me." He swiped a paw the size of a house through the Bastion's shield. The shield tore, and all six ponies went tumbling off the Bastion, rolling in the grass beyond with terrified shrieks.

The blow passed over the heads of Sonic and Spike.

The Shadow King stooped to examine them, nostrils flaring as he sniffed. Spike retreated to Sonic's side. "Get up, get up!"

Sonic blearily lifted his head. His body felt heavy and weak, and the echoes of Discord's madness swirled in his head. And there was pain. Formless, sourceless pain. It was as if his brain was bleeding out his nose. Compared to this, the skyscraper-sized, star-studded dragon facing him was an unreal vision.

Sonic sat up. Spike clung to his arm, so he scooped up the little dragon and held him protectively.

"Hello, child of chaos," said the Shadow King. "You led me to this world, and for that, I thank you."

The voice rolled over Sonic like a steam roller, compressing him back into himself. Discord had fled, and the ponies were struggling to their feet in the distance. But somehow, the dragon's voice was familiar.

"You know a guy named Mephiles?" Sonic asked.

The dragon's enormous pupils contracted until they became vertical slits, like a hunting cat's. "You know him better than I." But for a second, an undertone of fear touched the Shadow King's voice.

Sonic staggered to his feet, carrying Spike. "Yeah, he tried to snuff me. Guess what! I'm still here. So what are you going to do?"

The dragon's lips peeled back from teeth that would have made any shark faint with envy. "I have come to devour this world and all of its magic. I shall start with you."

"Wait!" squeaked Spike.

The Shadow King paused, his window-sized eyes flicking to the baby dragon.

Spike shook in Sonic's arms like a terrified puppy. But he lifted his voice to the monster. "I'm one of your kind, right? How did I get here?"

"I know not," said the Shadow King. "But I am your sovereign. Bow before me." His powerful aura blasted both Sonic and Spike, forcing them both to kneel.

Sonic snarled and lifted his head. As he returned to himself, defiance rose through the sickness and fear. Sheer, pig-headed defiance that had helped him face Doctor Robotnik, Perfect Chaos, and a winged thing he almost remembered. The defiance of righteous assurance. "You're not my sovereign. And what kind of king eats his subjects? You're nothing but a big stupid monster."

The Shadow King snarled. "How dare you!"

"Yeah!" Spike added, although he still trembled. "A king is supposed to protect his people! Some king you are - you got your people banished!"

The dragon roared. Sonic and Spike shielded their faces. Fire blazed through the Bastion's crystal floor in rippling patterns. Sonic's heart thundered in terror. "That's it," he thought. "Now he'll eat us."

But hooves chinked on the crystal, and the six ponies galloped up to stand around Sonic and Spike. Their manes and tails were mussed, and their coats full of mud and grass stains, but fury and fear blazed in every eye.

Except Twilight. Tears filled her eyes as she stood beside Sonic and faced the dragon. Her tiara was bent, her magenta star hung crooked. Yet when she spoke in a low voice, the Shadow King fanned his ear-fins and listened.

"These two are the bravest creatures in the world," she said, pressing a shoulder against Sonic's. "They've faced you and you couldn't break them. You can overcome kindness, loyalty, generosity, joy, honesty, and even magic - but you can't overcome bravery."

Silently, the remaining guardian dragons crept onto the Sacred Bastion's crystal floor and stood around the ponies.

The Shadow King stood in silence, and doubt radiated from him like smoke. Then his ear-fins flattened, his eyes narrowed, and he bared his teeth to the roots. "Then I shall rend you all limb from limb!" He stamped one forefoot on the Sacred Bastion's crystal floor.

The guardian dragons roared. The Bastion's floor blazed like the sun. The ponies yelled in defiance, and Sonic sprang to his feet, still carrying Spike. The glowing floor tinted his spines gold again, and Spike's scales shimmered with a ghost of the stars that studded the Shadow King.

Above Sonic and Spike, a brilliant indigo gem flashed into being. It was cut in the shape of a shield, and its color exactly matched Sonic's spines.

Shimmerscale, the purple guardian dragon, stepped up beside Sonic and Spike. The Shadow King dwarfed him, but he raised his head proudly in the face of their enemy. "The courage of this hedgehog and baby dragon, weak and injured as they are, has summoned the Element of Bravery! By its power, we hereby banish you and your kin from this world forever!"

The Shadow King snarled, but withdrew his paw from the Bastion. His scales smoked and stank, and his claw withered to a blackened stump. The dragon stared at it, eyes widening.

Sonic stepped forward. "Go on, get lost!"

The Shadow King flinched and retreated one step, then another.

With a cry of triumph, Sonic, the ponies, and the guardian dragons leaped off the Bastion and charged at the Shadow King. He scrambled to get away, his legs thick as tree trunks, one now missing its foot, and limped swiftly back toward the hole in the world spells. The shadow dragons poured through the hole ahead of him.

"I think I have to go with him," Sonic panted. He placed Spike on Twilight's back as she galloped beside him. The blue Element had embedded itself in a golden necklace around Spike's neck, and the little dragon was beaming.

"Thank you, Sonic!" Twilight cried. "This is amazing! I had no idea there were other Elements! We're indebted to you!"

"It wasn't me, it was Spike," said Sonic, grinning. "Wish me luck getting home!"

The Shadow King dove through the hole to Outside, and the rest of his brood followed him. The hole began to shrink as the ponies and Elements neared it.

Sonic put on a burst of supersonic speed. The remaining power inside him let him soar over the canyon, and plunge through the hole. It sealed shut behind him.

The ponies and dragons cheered, but Twilight stood still, and stifled a sob. "We'll never see him again."

"But he gave us something to remember him by," said Spike, holding up his Sonic-colored gem.

Twilight nuzzled him. "He sure did." She gave her friends a watery smile. "Let's thank the people of Deep Covert, and go home. Princess Celestia will be really interested in this."

* * *

><p>Sonic yelled as he leaped out of the world, mostly to give himself courage. He fell - forward, sideways, backward-through darkness. The ponies' world vanished. "Mobius!" he yelled. "I need Mobius!"<p>

But he kept falling - or flying, or whatever - and landed nowhere. There was still air - something breathable, anyway. Somewhere out here were a bunch of dragons, including one really big angry one. What if he crashed into them? Worse, what if he fell forever, lost between the worlds?

Fear rose inside him like an icy flood, and he flailed, trying to find something to grab onto. But there was nothing, and this frightened him even more. It was like being underwater - one of his biggest fears. Unable to run, helpless, doomed.

"Help!" he cried. "Somebody help me!"

The blackness swelled with cloudy blue light. An immense wing - he saw the feathers, long as the Speed Highway - swept in front of him, and he collided with its infinite softness. It folded around him, pulling him inward to face - something.

Memories seared through his brain - memories he had been commanded to forget. A radiant being faced him, an angelic creature that also seemed bird-like. A red sphere burned in its breast, where the Flames of Disaster lay.

"Solaris," Sonic whispered.

"Hello, Sonic," it said in his mind. It was like the voice of an old friend.

Sonic had attacked him once. Acute embarrassment joined his fear. "About the whole Soleanna thing - hey, it was a big misunderstanding. Sorry about that."

"You saved me," Solaris said, with glowing good humor. "When you extinguished the Flame and removed me from the hands of my misguided worshipers. For that, I thank you. Now, why are you lost Outside?"

Sonic explained about accidentally slipping through the world barrier between Equus and Mobius. When he mentioned the shadow dragons, Solaris's blue darkened to angry violet. "Those creatures. I know them. Hungry, destructive, immortal beasts. I will confine them - they shall not trouble the worlds again."

"Oh, yeah, and," Sonic added, "my memories are screwed up. I died and stuff, so why can't I remember?"

"When one's timeline is reset," said Solaris, "the events vanish and so do all memory of those events. Mortals with memories of two timelines often go mad with the confusion. I know that you desire to keep your memories. Therefore I give you this gift - they will be as a dream. Strange, distant, harmless."

Sonic grinned. "Works for me!"

"Now." Solaris's pinions brushed his face. "Sleep, friend. You will awaken in safety."

Sonic obediently closed his eyes, and sank into rest.

"Sonic?"

He sat up, eyes flying open. "Twilight?"

There was nobody there. He lay on the floor of his hut in Knothole, surrounded by his and Sally's things. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "What a crazy dream that was. Wait'll I tell everybody."

As he climbed to his feet, a sparkle on the floor caught his eye. He picked it up. A sapphire cut in the shape of a shield.

He glanced out the window at the blue sky. "Thanks, Twilight."

The end


End file.
